Gates of Hell
by Lawi01
Summary: Kalepi is a boy with a secret. Lady Evangeline Avi is a noble with many more. When Kalepi is unwittingly sucked into Evangeline's dangerous world of pirates and mayhem, he discovers that his personal demons are more real than he thinks: and if he can't control them he could destroy the world. Long-awaited sequel to 'Hourglass of Tears'.
1. Chapter 1: Kalepi

Ah, Port Royal in summer. Nothing better, if you ask me. The markets, always buzzing with some level of activity, positively explode with the arrival of hundreds of foreign ships. Spain, France, India- you name it. You can lose yourself in the smells and sounds and sights of the crowd, and the sun's on your face and if you're _really _lucky, there's money in your pocket. And if there's not- well, there's always a trader dim enough, or a fellow shopper who unwittingly distracts the merchant's attention long enough for you to nick something. I am among that minority. Oh, yes- already I can feel my fingers tingling with the thrill of taking a prize won by skill and cunning. Already I can smell the foreign spices and hear the strange languages and see the odd vessels bobbing in the crystalline water. Yes! The summer markets are where I belong. My home.

No, seriously. I spend my days crouching in a dusty hole, surrounded by trees, just beyond the narrow strip of beach. The water is only a few metres in front, the docks a few more to my right. Not exactly the home of a noble, but so much better than the filthy backstreets. I wouldn't survive a day out there, and that's not because of the poor hygiene. No, here I have access to a bath (of sorts), and living beneath coconut trees has its benefits. I'm small enough to shinny up them when I'm _really _hungry. Not to mention the incredible privacy it offers-

_Ow! _Who-? What-?

Ah. Gilbert and Gerard. My old buddies. I pick up the rock that only very recently bounced off my ribs and hurl it back at them, shouting something in gibberish just to scare them. It seems to work, to an extent: they back up, though they _are _doubled over with laughter.

Good Lord. You'd think, living off the coast of Jamaica, people around here would have a bit more tolerance towards African people like me. But no, they still throw rocks and bottles and pretty much anything they can get their hands on, really. _Sooty's Corner_, they call it.

Very original, these white people.

But where was I? Oh yes, the privacy. More than satisfactory, actually. Sure, people like Gilbert and Gerard know I'm here- and they let me know about it, too- but you really can't see me unless you're _looking _for me. Great protection from the rain, and no-one ever nicks it when I'm out and about the markets.

Not today, though. The strange and wonderful ships haven't arrived yet, and it's just the same old merchants selling the same old junk. Not even the locals bother with them anymore. Just one woman today, standing at the end of the docks, holding a lacy purple umbrella over her shoulder. God knows what she's up to. I could be wrong, but looks like she's holding a pretty hefty bottle of rum in that hand. No doubt it'll be hurtled towards me at some point in the near future.

Sigh. Turn back to the horizon, where I've been tracking the progress of three ships all afternoon. They appeared as dim black smudges around lunch time, but one of them has been advancing so quickly I can almost see if moving all the way back here. Wonder who's aboard? You hear all sorts of stories around here, especially at night time. Pirates, sea goddesses, even mermaids. Of course, most of these sailors have so much rum on their brains they probably couldn't tell a dugong from a person, but it makes for some interesting listening. My favourite's the one about that black ship with the black sails. The _Black Pearl_. Fastest ship on earth, they say. Pirate ship, of course. All of the English ships are called stupid things like _Endeavour _and _Interceptor_ and so forth. Nothing quite so epic as the _Black Pearl. _When I was first brought to the plantations, all those years ago, I thought it'd be cool to join those strong men in the fancy uniforms marching up and down. Then I was at their complete mercy, and changed my mind somewhat. Escaping here and seeing their lack of originality didn't help their case much, either.

Not that the likes of _me _could ever get into Her Majesty's Navy, or any other military service for that matter. Too unreliable. I might shoot myself, or my comrades, in the middle of a battle. Turn the cannon and blow a hole in the deck. Lose control completely, succumb to the flames-

_No_. Already the smell of smoke has filled my lungs. Deep breaths now, Kalepi. Salt, not smoke. No fire. Calm down. There aren't many people at the docks today, but enough to cause a fuss if I should explode from the jungle screaming.

Just calm down. Close my eyes, take several deep breaths. Deeper every time. I don't know if it actually helps- it's not like I've ever been to a doctor- but maybe I've just been doing it for so long that I've convinced myself it makes a difference.

"Excuse me?"

_What the_-? Whirling around wildly, preparing myself for another attack. _Who said that? Who-?_

Oh. Oh dear God.

It's Lady Evangeline Avi. Lady Evangeline Avi, staring down at me with her big brown eyes and her glossy dark curls and her big poufy purple dress. Her right hand daintily holds a lacy umbrella over her shoulder: the other clasps a big bottle of expensive rum.

What do you know. Looks like I discovered the identity of the woman waiting on the docks. Lady Evangeline Avi, in all her glory.

There's a lot of talk generated by Evangeline Avi around here. They say she washed up here in the dead of night not two years before I arrived here, claiming her mother was the famous pirate-hunter Angelica Avi and that she needed lodging here. They say she's a pirate's bastard, but not one of the famous ones (if you can believe the stories) and that he was the reason her mother became a privateer. They say she comes down to the docks in the dead of night every so often, and is greeted by a black ship with black sails (sound familiar?) but no-one ever sees it in the morning. They say she's much too outdoorsy for a member of the elite, poking around the local pubs and conversing amicably with sailors instead of sitting in her living room waiting on an imaginary husband or something. They say she was raised in a convent, but is a servant of Satan, digging up supernatural stories from sailors and swallowing them like Gospel truths.

They say a lot of things about Evangeline Avi.

Help! What do I do? Not once, in the entire two years of my life here, has anyone ever spoken to me without malicious intent- especially not teenage members of the elite. Do I bow? Pretend she hasn't said anything? Be seen and not heard? Calm down now, Kalepi. We don't want our little friend paying us a visit now.

"Are you waiting for someone?"

What are you, stupid? Obviously you don't get out as much as everyone says you do if you don't even know about Sooty's Corner.

Keep it civil, Kalepi. She's got a big bottle in one hand, remember. "Oh- ah, no, my lady."

"Do you mind if I sit here?" she continues.

Here? In the dirt? With me? Oh no, I wouldn't want to ruin your pretty dress. God, she's odd.

"I won't if you don't want me to," she adds hurriedly. Whoops! Was I supposed to reply? I didn't think people like her waited for permission from people like me. "It's just that, well- you've got a nice spot, and… Well." She smiles briefly. "I could be here a while."

Her head jerks out to the horizon. So one of the approaching ships must be the one she's waiting for. Well, if she's waiting for one of the two lagging behind, I don't envy her. Compared to that one out the front, they're like turtles-

_Focus_. One thing at a time. "Uh- of course. Um, my lady."

Warm smile. "Thank you."

Rustle of fabric and a blast of air in my face as she settles herself down, dresses exploding up about her waist. Help! Now what? This is the most I've interacted with humans for _years_. What's the common etiquette? Sit in silence? Or attempt to make awkward conversation? Dear me, but people are complicated. Suddenly my lifelong solitude doesn't seem so terrible.

"What's your name?" What? She's asking me for my _name _now? Well. It's been an eventful day in the life of Kalepi, let me tell you.

"Kalepi. My lady." Awkward silence. It seems stupid to ask her for her name, because everyone already knows it. Do I risk like looking a fool for the sake of carrying on the conversation?

Apparently not. Lady Evangeline to the rescue. "I like that name." (God, but she smiles a lot, doesn't she?) "It reminds me of kelp."

_Excuse me_? Well, if we're getting frank now, let me tell you something: I may not be much, but I am _much _better than any piece of _kelp_-

"Oh! Oh, no…" Whoops! Look away, Kalepi, look away! Did she catch me staring? Did she see the demon in my eyes? Oh dear, it looks like I've scared off my guest.

Mind you, that may not be such a bad thing.

No such luck, though. She's too busy apologizing. "God, I'm sorry. It's just that- well, both my parents are sailors and I've sailed with both of them and- what I said before, I meant that as a compliment- I love the sea, really, I do- oh, God, Evangeline, just shut up!"

And we're back to the staring. Am I mishearing, or did she really just use the Lord's name in vain _twice_? I've been flogged for saying less than that. And they say she grew up in a convent! You know, I'm starting to see the Satan thing coming together now… There's something about her. I didn't notice it before, but it's obvious from this distance. She's nothing like the perfect, powdered women who totter around town in their corsets. Face and hands pitted with scars, and worn fingers (almost as if they've actually done a proper day's work). There's a functioning brain behind those eyes, you can tell- eyes that have seen things. Adventures and secrets.

Which makes you wonder just how much credit those old sailor's tails have. If she wasn't wearing fancy clothes, _I _certainly wouldn't have picked her out as a noble.

"It's… um, it's OK." What else am I supposed to say? A crazy member of Port Royal's elite just compared me to a piece of kelp. There's not much _to _say to something like that.

Silence descends once more. Lady Evangeline doesn't look like she trusts herself to say something sensible, and has her mouth clamped tight shut and her eyes fixed on the horizon. Something about the silence unnerves me. She may not be like those pompous women I despise so, but that doesn't particularly endear me to her either. I don't know what to make of her- in fact, I want her gone as soon as possible, but I don't want her quiet, either. Gives her too much time to think. _Say something, Kalepi!_

"Who are you waiting for?"

Oh, nice one. Good job, Kalepi. Way to keep her calm. Prying into the private life of a noble never did anyone any good. Watch that rum bottle, now… She might have a temper on top of a shady past. If I move quickly enough, I might be able to dodge the blow-

"My father." At the sound of her voice, I almost spring out onto the beach, I'm so tense. As it is, her tone surprises me: not uptight or annoyed, just casual and friendly.

"Oh." Another pause. _Say something! _"Is he a merchant?"

She laughs like that's the stupidest thing she's ever heard. But not in a mean way. "Oh, God no. He's a pirate."

This time I do fall over. Did she- did she _really_ just openly admit to her father being a pirate? I've seen what they do to convicted pirates. Everyone's seen the bodies dangling just outside port. And here she is, mouthing off like it means nothing! It must be a joke. A sick joke.

So I laugh too.

"That's his ship out there, see?" Leaning in close, extending an arm. And what's this? Ho hum. She's pointing to the one out front, which is lucky for her, I guess. It can't be more than a few hours away, now.

"What's it called?" Forcing myself to stay calm and civil. I need to get away from this psycho, before she eats me or something.

"The _Black Pearl_."

Oh, come on. Now she _must _be joking. Even if her father _was _a pirate, there's no way…

Whoops. Looks like she caught me staring at her again. But if there's any doubt on my face (which, of course, there is) she doesn't take any offence to it. No, she just smiles again and offers a hand. "Walk with me, won't you?"

No. No, I _won't _walk with you. My life isn't perfect, but it's nice and I don't want to be dragged into any of your nonsense-

Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I want her to drag me away from this monotony. And if I die, so what? I'm going to Hell anyway. I might as well do it somewhere other than this pathetic hole.

So I take her hand. And arm in arm, we go for a walk.


	2. Chapter 2: Kalepi

You can say what you like for Port Royal, but the fact remains: it's still a city. There are still whores and drunkards and murderers, you just need to know where to look for them. Our streets are as dirty as any other. The higher up the hill you get, the nicer it is, but otherwise… There's a reason I stick to the beach. Clean and quiet, as I may have mentioned once or twice before.

You keep a lady like Evangeline Avi by your side, though, and you do pretty well. No-one pays us any mind as we saunter along, my wrist tucked into the crook of her arm (a little uncomfortably, actually, because she's so tall and I'm so short) and her umbrella held lightly over our heads. She looks untroubled, and I guess there's no reason to look otherwise.

You know. Apart from the fact that she just confessed to a complete stranger that her father is a pirate.

Finally I just can't stand it anymore. "So is it true?" I blurt. "About your father?"

Oh, _now _she looks around cautiously. I didn't even _say _anything about pirates! "Yes." Mutter, mutter. "But try to keep quiet, yeah?"

Pulling a face while she's not watching. Luckily for me, she doesn't see, and keeps chatting away.

"It's a long story. D'you want to hear it?"

Oh please. Do enlighten me. "Yes, my lady."

"Whatever you've heard about me is probably true," she says simply. "My mother is Angelica Avi, and my father is Jack Sparrow. Bastard, obviously."

Jack Sparrow, Jack Sparrow… Scanning my mind. Nope. No recognition of _that _name. Though it does take me a moment to realize that the bastard she's talking about is herself, not her father.

"When I was born, my mother left me in the convent she met my father in." I stare. She grins. "I never said I was a _moral _bastard."

Right. Of course. Carry on.

"I grew up there, and when I was fifteen she returned and adopted me, claiming I was her daughter. She told me later that this was a lie, but then _that _was a lie too." I must look confused, because she elaborates. "I really am her daughter. She just told me I wasn't. Making sense so far?"

"I think so. My lady."

"Great. Anyway, I sailed with her and her privateer lot for months. It wasn't exactly fun, mind you. Sitting around all day, drinking tea and eating biscuits in stupid dresses…" She shakes her head. Makes you wonder what she's doing here at all, really. "One day we were in Barbados, restocking after a storm. I overheard my mother talking to a man in her study."

Here she gives me a careful look. "Do you believe in the supernatural, Kalepi?"

Do _I_? Oh, the things I could tell you about the supernatural. "To a degree, my lady."

Lady Evangeline gives a big sigh that makes her curls flutter about her face. "My father," she says carefully. "Has been involved in a fair few supernatural incidents. A fe months before she adopted me, my parents were involved in another one. Their first meeting since my birth."

Another pause. Get on with it! "In searching for Jack- for revenge, obviously- Angelica found her father." Another cautious glance around the street. "And that would be Blackbeard."

Sharp intake of breath. Even _I _know that name. The most feared pirate on the seven seas- and I'm standing with his granddaughter! If I had a family I would be telling them this story for years to come.

"When they found the Fountain of Youth, Jack killed Blackbeard and marooned Angelica. Because he loves her but he pretends to hate her because he's an idiot." Tough family life. "She found her way back to civilization eventually and became a privateer with the goal of killing Jack, and another pirate who had a hand in killing my grandfather. Captain Barbossa."

Nope, I don't know that one either. But do continue. I find your family history impossibly fascinating.

"_Anyway_, jumping forward a few months, it was Barbossa who was speaking to my mother in her cabin when I found them. He told her about another magical artifact, not far from the now destroyed Fountain of Youth. The Hourglass of Tears."

God, all these dramatic names. I've said it before and I'll say it again: pirates have an awful lot more originality than the British navy does. Or the British anything, for that matter.

"Using a mermaid tear, once a century anyone could change one event in their past." Evangeline, still plugging on. So what, you're telling me that mermaids are real now too? Well I never. Life is just passing me by. "Angelica was lucky. She wanted to undo the day she met Jack, and therefore undo my birth." She glances at me. "So all at once I discovered who my real parents were and also figured out what I had to do. I persuaded Angelica to take us to Tortuga, the pirate port, and told her that I would sneak aboard Jack's ship and lead her to the Hourglass. I told Jack my true agenda: I wanted to find my own mermaid tear and undo the day Angelica heard about the Hourglass. In spite of all their shortcomings, I did love my mother."

Past tense there. How strange.

"Well. Apart from a rough father-daughter reunion, things went pretty well. We clashed with Angelica's group at the Hourglass, as planned, and I let Angelica think I was working with her but then I turned and used the distraction to use the Hourglass for myself. Oh- at the time I had a half-mermaid tear and a real one. I told Angelica I would take care of the mermaid tears so she wouldn't have to waste time, but my intention was to give her the half-mermaid one and use the real one for myself. In the end I threw the real one at her head to keep her from killing Jack and let her keep the fake one, so she destroyed the Hourglass for the next century anyway."

So basically: neither of her parents wanted her, but she put her life on the line to save one of them. That's what I'm hearing, anyway.

"I left with the pirates. I thought Jack was going to kill me, but… he spared me. He planted me here as his spy, and if Angelica lifts a finger against either of us he'll tell the whole world about her ancestry and her past." She smiles brightly at me. "So it all turned out rather well, don't you think?"

At this point we're beginning to rise into the nicer parts of town. But only barely. Why, here he is himself: exhibit A of the finer civilians of Port Royal. That is, Brown the Blacksmith. A filthy, grubby man, who makes it his business to be drunk around the clock. I hear his employs talented youths to do his work in the forge for him every few years, but the last one disappeared before my time. Went off to save his girlfriend and never came back, or something. Heart-breaking, truly.

Not that Brown cared much. Staggering towards us now, a bottle of low quality rum in his hand. (Nothing like Lady Evangeline's, in the way that it is both grubby and empty.) He sees me and a light flares in his eyes.

Oh no.

"You!" Voice like nails rattling in a pot, with extra slur on the side. "Filthy immigrant, with all your magical mumbo-jumbo and your curse-"

He trips, and almost falls flat on his face. Ha ha. At the same time, though, his words strike fear into my heart. How can he _possibly _know-? But maybe he doesn't. He might not know anything. I pretend to cast curses on people, sometimes, just to make them leave me alone. Maybe he just heard about that.

Maybe not.

"He's a demon, m'lady!" he bellows. Back on his feet, unfortunately. "You'll want to keep filth like him far away from you, mark m'words-"

"Your concern is appreciated, but unnecessary." Good Lord. She may be smiling, but that voice could freeze the sun. What happened to the bubbly twelve year old on the beach? "I know how to pick my company, and find Kalepi most satisfactory."

"Kalepi?" Pause. He looks rather bewildered. "Sounds like 'kelp'."

Oh, for God's sake-

_Wah_! Look out! Diving to the side as he lunges, swinging his bottle down at my head. Landing face down in the dirty stones, and he's stumbling closer, I can hear him- oh, God, oh God- I can smell the smoke, I can feel the flames- oh, not here, not now-

"Hoi! Maggot-face! I'll have you think twice before even _trying _to hit any friend of mine."

Hello. Who's this? Not Lady Evangeline, surely. But rolling onto my back, and there's Brown, lying dazed on his back- serves him right, the useless lump of lard- and… Well. This is a sight. Lady Evangeline Avi standing over him, one heel digging into his chest, her hat discarded. She brandishes her umbrella like a deadly weapon- and by the looks of things, she's brandished a fair few of deadly weapons before.

By God. It doesn't look like she was lying when she said she sailed with pirates.

The smoke and the fire retreats. I take a deep breath, and process the events of the last few moments. Brown attacked me. And Lady Evangeline Avi attacked him- in defence of _me_. Did I really hear her call me her friend? I've not know her an hour. She must be crazy. Or maybe I'm crazy. Because there is no way this can seriously be happening.

A blast of air to the face, and Evangeline is crouched in front of me, her dresses settling down about her once more. (Standing over Brown like she was before, you could see that her boots are proper working ones. Men's boots, not a lady's heels. Her dress hides them well.)

"Are you alright?" Big eyes, full of concern. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm _fine_." Whoops. A little harsher than I meant to. She gets the message, and backs off, now alarmed. I stare at her for a long time before speaking again. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

She opens her mouth to answer-

_Thwoooomp!_

A whistle of air, the sound of explosive impact and destruction, mass screaming. Evangeline's face brightens.

"Dad's here!"

Oh God. Typical pirate. Comes to find his daughter, and just _has _to raid the place while he's at it. What if the noise sets me off? What if I lose control in a crossfire? I don't want to die, not like that. I want to die as myself. Not _that_.

Can't think about that now, though. Lady Evangeline's on her feet, paying absolutely no mind to Brown and jamming her hat back down on her head. Wonder why she bothers? Her rum bottle's gone: further investigation reveals she cracked it over Brown's head. Must have taken a fair bit of strength to do that.

Who _is _this woman?

"Come on, Kalepi!" Calling from the end of an alley, now. How did she get there so quickly? "You'll only be safe if they see you with me!"

Oh. That's reassuring. I don't think there is such thing as safety, with this woman.

Still. If she's telling the truth, she's probably right. So I follow. When I catch up, she grabs my hand again and we walk the way we did before. It's laughable: the city falls apart all around us, and we walk as if nothing's wrong. At least, it'd be funny from an observer's point of view. All I can see is terrified women screaming past, confused children crying for their mothers, men running to their deaths. Shops explode. Cannon balls whistle through the air and tear everything apart. Already corpses lie in the street, and Evangeline picks past them delicately as I stumble along, hanging off her like a stray piece of weed caught on the barnacles of a ship.

The beach is no better. The Navy is busy assembling themselves, firing at- I don't believe it. A black ship with black sails, bobbing in the harbour. The _Black Pearl_! I never thought I'd see it, let alone in action. Its cannons are ablaze, its colours flap in the wind. Evangeline stops, plucks her hat from her head and waves it high in the air. I can't see from here, but it looks as if a walking carrot waves back and disappears below decks.

"That's Rocky," she explains. She makes no move to advance further down the beach. Which is wise, seeing as if we did we'd be shot to pieces. "Ship's cook. I had to work with him for a while."

Well isn't that fascinating. I think my mind is still struggling to catch up with everything that's happened. Am I being kidnapped? I haven't exactly tried to resist. And it's not like normal laws apply to an escaped slave like me.

"Where are you taking me?" My voice sounds small amongst all the terror and carnage. "What are you going to do with me?"

Evangeline gives me a warm, gentle smile. "I'm going to do everything I can to keep you safe, Kalepi. I promise."

Yes. Well. I don't think being held on a beach with soldiers and pirates firing on all sides counts as being _kept safe. _

But what do I have to lose?


	3. Chapter 3: Kalepi

_Thwoooomp CRASH! _Wood breaks like bone. Screams tear through the air, overridden by orders to fire this, haul that. How long has it been since we were thrown into this bomb shelter? Could be minutes, could be hours. It's all become one long stretch of cramped darkness, the raging battle outside muffled by the walls.

God, but I hate it here. Evangeline said it was the First Mate's cabin, but surely not even a pirate would live in conditions like this. All I can think of is those horrible months on board the slave ships. The constant blackness, the suffocating tightness in the way we were all packed together. Being kept up all night by the aches of hunger and the pain of stiff joints, the plaintive cries of the suffering. Sitting here, on the floor, with my knees at my ears and junk pressing up on all sides, all I have to do is close my eyes and I'm back on the _Third Star_, vividly remembering each horrendous detail. Every time I came to face down in the ankle-deep pool of human waste. Every crack of the Quartermaster's whip on my back for something I didn't even remember doing

Every time the entire ship was filled with the fervent whispers of my fellow passengers praying for my death.

How many times did I wish I _was _dead? Too many to count, more than I'd care to remember. Not that it matters, anymore. I escaped eventually, and now here I am. Living it up in the lap of luxury with Lady Evangeline Avi.

If our current living standards bother her, she isn't showing it. 'And all the work I went through to clean it' was her only comment when she saw the mess. No, I think at the moment her main frustrations are at her father. Lots of whispering, and cursing. Makes you wonder how she ever even got into the elite of Port Royal, with a vocabulary like that. All _miserable maggot _this and _festering pissface _that. Somehow I don't get the vibe that having the British Navy on our tail was part of the plan.

Which begs the question: what _was _the plan? Evangeline said she was a spy for her pirate daddy before. So obviously she's dug up something worth investigating. Question is, does that something involve me? I don't get the feeling she brings homeless slave boys on her adventures for fun. Then again, at this stage, nothing would surprise me.

I just have to be on my guard. Any whiff of human sacrifice and I'm out of here, British Navy or no.

"How much longer do you think they'll fight for?" Tentatively. She was nice before, but know that we're away from the public eye she may well treat me like any other slave boy.

Not that anyone would care if she did slap me in public.

"Hm? Oh, it all depends." Her head jerks up, like I've woken her from a nap. Mind, she _is _sitting on the bed. The only clear space in the entire room. I made her take it, because I'm a gentleman. And it's not like I deserve much better than my place on the floor. "We may lose them, or blow a hole in their hull." Pause. "Or they might blow a hole in ours."

Fabulous. Thank you for that piece of positive insight to the situation.

"Why aren't we fighting with them?" Because right now, I'd rather be anywhere but here. Too many bad memories.

"We have to make the others think we're hostages," she sighs. "It's less suspicious that way. Besides," she says, and what's this? Do I detect a hint of bitterness in her tone? "There's money in hostages."

"But then people will come looking for us."

She grins wolfishly. "I don't think anyone will come looking for us where we're going."

Gulp. Sounds ominous. "And where's that, exactly?"

Lucky I don't sound as terrified as I feel.

Big brown eyes blink once; then she sighs, and smooths her dress out across her lap. "When Jack planted me in Port Royal, he told me to tell him if I found anything he would find 'interesting'." She never refers to either of her parents as 'mother' or 'father'. Hm. "As a pirate, that typically included any big loads of gold going out virtually unguarded, stuff like that. I told him about one or two, but mostly I was looking for more supernatural stuff to get him involved in. To spite him, mostly."

Remembering the mutters about Evangeline being a Satan worshipper and a ghost hunter. Looks like they were right.

"Well, a few months ago I heard about the Gates of Hell." Her eyes flash ominously and her face is grim. "Whoever opens them has complete control of whatever monsters lie within there."

"We're not- we're not going to open them?" Flutter of panic. Oh, God, if she knew about _my _monsters-

"What? Oh, God, no." She looks horrified by the prospect. Thank God. "No, it took me a while to talk Jack out of it, but we got there eventually."

God. Her dad must be as crazy as she is, if he wants to open the Gates of Hell.

"Right now, we're trying to make sure they stay shut."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, would appear to be all Evangeline Avi has to say on the subject. I'm not sure I want to ask for more. Maybe if I ignore the problem it'll just go away.

Yeah, right. When has _that _ever worked for me?

The door cracks in, and- oh God! The heavens have opened up and angelic light is pouring over me- no, no. It's just the sunlight outside. Normal, boring sunlight.

Thank God. I hate to think of what any angel would do to me if they ever found me.

Who's this? Ah. The walking talking carrot. Rocky's a stupid name for a man with a physique like that. _Sticky _would be better.

"Figh'in's over," he announces. Honestly. Even _I _can speak better than him. "You can come ou' now, 'Vangeline. You too, Kelp."

Rocky the Carrot doesn't stick around for us to get up. I glance at Evangeline, who's carefully picking herself free of her big poufy dress.

"You've got to stop people calling me that." Because frankly, I'm not standing for any of that nonsense.

She tries to hide her smile. "I will, I promise. But they _are _pirates. I wouldn't hold too much hope."

Yes. Well. Give me a few days and this slave boy will come up with a scathing nickname for everyone on this damned vessel, mark my words.

"You can go out if you like, Kalepi. I just need to get changed." Still smiling away over there. I'm glad _you _find it funny, 'Vangeline.

Swallow. Hard. "Will there be much blood?"

Evangeline looks troubled. "Hard to say. The helm should be alright, if things are too heavy on deck."

Right. Well. The helm it is, then. Marching out the door- squinting in the sunlight- quick glance at the deck. Splinters the size of me everywhere, and holes blown in the railing (or whatever it's called), and blood and water splashed about. Bodies and weapons lie willy-nilly about the place. Maybe not as bad as I thought. But I'm not going down there. I have only the clothes on my back and I'd like to keep them clean, _thank _you very much.

Whoops! Be careful, Kalepi. All these splinters can't be good for bare little feet like yours. Picking my way up the stairs- watch out, that one there's broken- and what's this? _Euch_! Someone's wooden eye rolling back and forth across the wood, staring up at me blankly. People should seriously have eyepatches for that sort of thing. I could've rolled an ankle on that.

Evangeline was right. The helm's not too bad. The inevitable cracked wood, and a few splinters, but nothing like the damage below. View's nice, too. Port Royal's nothing more than a blue-ish lump in the distance (I had no idea we were travelling _that _fast) and the glittering blue sea stretches out in all directions.

And just behind us, the pleasantly smoking ruin of a British ship shrinks away into the horizon.

Back to the _Pearl_. There's a little party gathered on deck now: a man with a grey ponytail pulled behind his head glares at a parrot spouting obscenities, and a fat man with a ring of stringy hair bickers with a skinny rod of a man with one eye. (Looks like I found the owner of the wooden eye.) And in the middle of them all, standing at the helm and gazing out across the ship looking like he just bit down on a nut and chipped a tooth, is the oddest man I've ever seen.

Supple leather boots, dirty brown trousers. The light baggy white shirt that seems to be uniform among pirates, and a big flappy coat thrown over the top. A worn tricornered hat jammed on top of his hair, which seems to be a untameable mat where some of it is brushed and some of it hasn't been brushed in years. There's a glint of silver everywhere you look: coins swinging from his coat, his hair, his hat. He's even got beads dangling from his goatee! His hands are covered in tattoos and scars and bandages, though I can't see any wounds. Tanned skin and- ho hum. Outlined with smudged kohl, a pair of familiar dark brown eyes.

Evangeline's eyes.

Ladies and gentlemen, the great Captain Jack Sparrow. The first pirate I've ever met in my life.

I thought he'd be taller. Maybe more scary-looking.

"And pray tell us what the _hell _that was about."

Oh, and I'm just in time for the first father-daughter confrontation for this voyage. Lucky me.

Evangeline certainly _has _gotten changed since I left her in the cabin. A red bandanna has replaced her wide-brimmed hat, and there's a light white shirt that begins at her shoulders and ends at her elbows in place of the purple corset. Dark brown trousers made of a material I can't describe tucked into her knee-high boots. Her hair doesn't look as glossy as it did before, and she looks ten times more dangerous with her hands on her hips and the meanest death glare I ever saw since the Quartermaster plastered on her features.

Captain Jack swings around at the sound of her voice and faces her. His nose twitches, but that's pretty much it. "Evangeline."

She keeps right on glaring. How is he not buckling at the knees? "Where's my corset?"

_What_? You mean you wore a corset voluntarily? I've heard stories about how horrible they are. She _has _to be crazy.

"Sold it." A glint of silver as he flashes his teeth at Evangeline. If you yanked every bit of metal from this man and sold it, you'd have a fortune.

Sniff. "I hope you got a good price for it."

Shrug, and a look of genuine uncertainty. "She seemed to like it."

Evangeline opens her mouth to make another scathing comment- but apparently thinks better of it. "So? What was that about?"

Jack sniffs imperiously. "I don't know what you're talking about." The man talks quicker than a beggar scrambling for a penny. It's hard to keep up.

"That whole bloody scene back at Port Royal!" _Boom. _Evangeline explodes. "What did I say, I said _don't attack_. What do you do? You attack, and very nearly get all of us killed!"

"N-o-o, you _said _for us to take you hostage," Jack corrects her, waving a filthy finger in her face. Evangeline wrinkles her nose like a lady. "Hostage-taking is an art. It has to look like we took you because you were there, not because you're you. You've got a fishy enough reputation as it is, it'd be odd if we just took you without having any confusion to take you from in the first place. Savvy?"

Fishy. Ha ha. Pardon me as I stitch up my sides.

Evangeline barks a harsh laugh. "Oh, so you're telling me you did this _for _menow? You never do anything for me. Look me in the eye and tell me honestly that you didn't pillage anything from the city."

Pause. Jack opens his mouth- his finger is still wiggling about up there- gawps- will he do it? Will he lie to his own daughter? No. He shuts his mouth promptly and glares. Evangeline smirks and rolls her eyes. "Pirate."

"Oh, like you can talk." He fixes her with a new look. "Did you get it?"

Evangeline's eyes flash with alarm, and something like a warning. She throws a meaningful glance at me. "Yes."

Oh, I knew it. I _knew _it! Human sacrifice for these damned Gates of Hell. Or food for the kitchens. Either way, I'm done for. God, what am I going to do? I'm going to die, that's what! How am I going to get away from these maniacs? I could jump over the side, but I can't swim, and even if I could where would I go? Float back to the wreckage of the ship behind us and hope there are survivors? Tell them that I'm an escaped slave boy? I can't go back to the plantation. I _can't_.

Drums pound in my ears, drowning out whatever Evangeline's got to say. The world dissolves in a white haze and smoke fills my nostrils- but the smoke from the wreckage surely can't reach us from here-

Oh no.

Deep breaths Kalepi, deep breaths- no- I can't breathe- _help!_

Flames everywhere, and I'm gone.


	4. Chapter 4: Evangeline

Evangeline slid neatly through the crack between the doors and sagged against them. A deep breath blew her cheeks out and her eyes slid shut. All those months of careful planning and organizing and skulking around in the shadows, and not a single thing had gone according to plan.

_And whose fault is that?_ Counting to ten to prepare herself to speak to her father, Evangeline opened her eyes and faced him.

Jack fixed her with those eyes so startlingly like her own. "Is he OK?"

"Oh, like you care," Evangeline snapped, striding across the room and throwing herself down in the seat opposite him. In spite of everything he had done for her, she still felt an almost instinctive urge to be rude to Jack. Force of habit, she guessed.

And it wasn't exactly like she had a history of getting on with everyone she met.

"What happened to him?" Jack didn't seem remotely interested in Kalepi's wellbeing- he hadn't even asked for his _name- _but Evangeline figured it was idle conversation and went along with it. Besides, she was eager to shift the blame to him.

"He had a damn fit, didn't he?" Evangeline shook her head. Jack could be such an _idiot _sometimes. You'd think he'd have bowels for brains, the way he carried on. "It was all that fighting before. He was scared, and I don't think Gibbs' cabin agreed with him. Would it kill the man to clean it out every so often?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "I told you. We had to fight, to cover you-"

Evangeline waved a hand. "Whatever. We've got to be more careful from now on. If he gets scared, or starts panicking, or _anything_, we could lose him."

Jack sniffed. "It's just a fit. I don't see what's so bad about it."

Evangeline stared. She couldn't believe it! It was one of those times where she praised God that she hadn't had to be raised by this man. She didn't like to think who she would be if she had. "_His _fits aren't _ordinary _fits!" she hissed. "You _know _this, I told you!"

"Your handwriting's messy. And I spilt rum on your letter."

Evangeline sagged and pressed her fingers into her forehead, eyes shut. _Count to ten. Just count to ten. Deep breaths… _"So you don't know anything."

"Absolutely zip." He sounded awfully cheery about it.

_It's like preaching to a child! I shouldn't have to deal with this… _"Some people," she began slowly, still keeping her head bowed. She didn't trust herself to meet Jack's gaze and not explode. "Have fits. It's a mental thing, where they just lose control. Sometimes for no reason, sometimes there are triggers."

"The boy isn't among them," Jack remembered. "I got that much."

Evangeline spared him a sarcastic smile. "Well done! No, Kalepi's fits aren't normal. As far as the Church is concerned, anyone who suffers fits is inhabited by a devil." Now a crushing weight seemed to descend on Evangeline's shoulders, and she sagged beneath it. "Unfortunately, in Kalepi's case this is absolutely true."

Silence. Jack stared. His eyes looked even bigger with all his stupid make-up. _Even _I _don't wear make-up. God, but he's such a drama queen…_

"Go on," Jack insisted.

Evangeline pressed her elbows onto the surface of Jack's hard wooden table, rubbing her temples. It was a habit she'd picked up accidentally after watching Angelica so much on board the _Glorifier. _"According to legend, the Gates of Hell are somewhere near Africa, where Kalepi was born. The Gates were last opened around the time he was born, but they were quickly shut. No-one knows who did the opening or closing," she added pointedly, sensing Jack opening his mouth to ask a question. "But a stray demon must have escaped and lodged itself in Kalepi. Poor thing. He's a good kid."

"Yes, yes, we feel his pain," Jack snapped impatiently. "What's he got to do with the Gates?"

Evangeline glared. "Everything," she replied. "Just to _open _the Gates, you need a demon on both sides to push and pull the doors. Do you see why it's hardly ever been done before? Any demon on the inside would be busting to get out and would take the first opportunity to get involved in a ritual like this, but on the off chance there are any demons to be found on this side… It's difficult."

At that moment, there was a squeak and a thud from outside. Evangeline shot to her feet and was at the door in seconds, tearing it open and throwing her head out into the evening air. The deck was a hive of activity- sailors bustling back and forth, busy with the clean-up operation. Gibbs bellowed at their head, telling them where to take everything. She'd left a note telling Kalepi to do whatever he liked in case he came around while she was away, but she couldn't see him. No-one strayed anywhere near the captain's cabin.

Treating the ship to another careful scan, Evangeline reluctantly stepped back inside, the door clicking shut before her. Throwing the door suspicious glances, she returned to her chair.

"But we're not trying to open the Gates." Jack went on unhappily as if nothing had happened. "So why do we need him?"

"He tried to lie low in Port Royal," Evangeline said wretchedly. "But everyone knows about him. About his fits, that is. I think he only had one or two since he arrived, but someone saw him and told someone who told someone who told everyone. And with all the sailors coming in and out… You know how they get with their stories." Jack nodded sagely. Evangeline resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Everyone believed it was a demon inside him, because of superstition and religion. I don't think anyone knew that they were actually _right_."

She looked at Jack properly this time. He was remarkably unchanged, since the last time she'd seen him. Of course, that _was _often in the dead of night, and only every few months, if ever. She realized with a jolt that she hadn't actually sailed with him since the Hourglass incident. "That was how I heard about the Gates. A fleeting mention from a drunken sailor, going on about how someone ought to kill Kalepi in his sleep." Evangeline shuddered. "He said that the only thing Kalepi would ever be useful for would be 'opening the Gates, and that would doom us all'. Then he passed out. Well, I thought it had your name all over it." Here Evangeline had to supress a grin. Part of her almost hoped that Jack was sick of all his paranormal adventures by now, because if he was she would gladly keep piling them on him. It all meant trouble, and she delighted in getting him into trouble. "I did some digging, and it took ages, but I began to put the pieces together. Some things were absolute dragon turd- one man told me that if you do it properly you can raise Lucifer from Hell- but you'd be surprised how accurate that lot can be, when they're not totally soaked."

Jack arched an eyebrow. "Why didn't you believe in the Lucifer thing?"

Evangeline blinked, taken aback. "Because surely no-one would be _that _stupid," she said, a little exasperatedly. "I mean, who would _want _a demonic force like that loose on the world?"

Suddenly Jack looked much older, and for a brief moment Evangeline saw all of his adventures etched into his eyes. She wondered if people got tired of adventures eventually, paranormal or not. "I think," he said slowly. "That we shouldn't put the matter completely to rest."

Evangeline twisted her mouth, not wanting to admit that her father was right but knowing he was. She didn't _want _to consider that someone really would be stupid enough to create a mechanism allowing Lucifer's freedom, especially not considering what she was about to say next. "Yes. Well. Keep that in mind, and this next bit will have you tickled pink."

The years disappeared from Jack's face, and his face lightened in a usual cocky grin. His silver teeth glinted in the candlelight. "Enlighten me."

"Not long before I wrote to you, a man turned up in Port Royal. He was investigated for days, but when they finally let him go he came straight to the tavern to tell everyone what happened to him." Evangeline took a deep breath. "He said there was a man in his crew who had fits too. Just normal ones, it turned out, but someone found out. Someone you might know of."

Jack leaned forward in his chair, eyes wide and questioning. It was like telling a fairy tale to a little kid. "Who?"

Evangeline took a deep breath. "Captain Kidd. He's looking for the Gates, and that's why we have Kalepi. We _can't _let Kidd have him."

Silence descended between them. Jack stared, pop-eyed, and Evangeline held his gaze measuredly. His mouth hung slightly agape, and disbelief was etched all over his features. Then-

With a squawk like a chicken, Jack sprang to his feet. Evangeline jerked back, startled and fighting the urge to laugh. He looked like a fish, all big eyes and swinging mouth. He began dancing between the desk and the door, like he couldn't decide if he wanted to stay and talk to Evangeline or make some kind of appearance on deck.

"Why did you bring him here?" he demanded in a strangled hiss.

Evangeline rose from her chair, ready for a fight: verbal or physical. "I _told _you, we can't let Kidd find him-"

"Yes, but chances are he already _has_!" Jack squawked again, throwing his hands into the air. "So he'll go to Port Royal, and someone'll figure out we took him and then he'll be onto us! And my ship is already damaged enough as it is-"

"Well then you should have come and picked us up in the dead of night!" Evangeline snapped. "I _told _you all this, and you never once said no-"

"I couldn't read your letter!" Jack said, wildly jabbing a finger in her face.

"I told you _it'll be dangerous_ when I gave it to you," Evangeline hissed, remembering the last time Jack came to meet her at the docks. It hadn't struck her until before she left her house that she wouldn't have enough time to tell him the entire story before someone caught them, so she hastily scribbled down a letter to give to him to read later, describing the mission she had in mind. So maybe it hadn't been entirely legible, but she wasn't going to give in that easily.

"Whatever! What are we supposed to do now? Just sign him on as a crew member? Sail around with him forever, to _protect him_?" Jack's eyes narrowed. "No. If he was, you wouldn't have gotten all dressed up and come with us. What else is there?"

Evangeline pursed her lips. "I don't know," she admitted. "But I want to find a way to get rid of Kalepi's demon without raising the rest of Hell's demons. You've got contacts and I thought maybe we'd find something, somewhere, but I can't trust you to save anyone's hide but your own and so I'm staying." She stormed over to the door and wrenched it open, glaring over her shoulder. "And so is Kalepi, whether you like it or not."

She slammed the door just right: loud enough to make a point, quiet enough to not attract any of the crew's attention. Squaring her shoulders, and mentally congratulating herself on such a successful confrontation, she strode back to Gibbs' cabin- the cabin that she had designated for herself and Kalepi. There was no way she was going to leave him to the crews mercy: Jack might ask one of them to slit his throat while he slept. Demon or no, Kalepi was still human. And she liked him. He reminded her a bit of herself, when she was his age: she could see that there was plenty that went on in his mind that he didn't say aloud, and also that he was alone. She knew exactly how it felt to be alone, and was in no rush to abandon him. He was, in her mind, a fellow soldier: an escapee, who had no-one but himself but kept marching on because he had to. And when one found a fellow soldier in need, one did not dare to leave them alone.

She poked her head through the door first, examining the messy room. There was only one narrow bed, currently occupied by Kalepi: how she was going to fit both of them in this room was beyond her at this stage, but she'd find a way. Her note, scribbled down on a scrap of parchment that had seen much better days, was nailed to the side of a wooden dresser with a rusty knife she'd found on the floor. A candle flickered at another, smaller dresser opposite the bed. Leaning against the closed door, Evangeline remembered the last time she had slept in this room. There had been a lot of crying, she remembered. And cleaning. All of that back-breaking work, and Gibbs must have come right along and trashed it up as soon as she left.

_Scum-faced pig_, she thought fondly as she picked her way through the rubbish to the space of floor opposite the bed, where Kalepi had sat before. She remembered, with an unpleasant squeeze of her heart, watching him as they hid away during the battle. His limbs, always impossibly skinny, had seemed pitifully small in the dim light, throwing sharp shadows across his face. When his eyes were shut, she saw acute misery fly across his features. When they were open, she saw a heavy, terrible weight in them. The sailors at Port Royal said he was an escaped slave. She couldn't even begin to imagine what horrors he must have witnessed there, particularly with his demon causing constant havoc within him.

Now she sat in his place, looking up at him from the floor. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, and even smaller than usual, swaddled as he was in the sheets. With a shudder she remembered his fit: his knees had given way suddenly, and he lay on the floor, twitching madly. The moment Evangeline had touched him he began howling like an animal, spitting and clawing at anything that moved. He had raked his fingers down his scalp, and Evangeline imagined that if his head wasn't shaven he would have torn his hair out at the roots. As it was, he left long, bloody scars behind. She hadn't found those until later: they blended in nicely with his dark skin. They were almost invisible now, in the flickering light.

Evangeline realized with a jolt that he was awake, and watching her as carefully as she watched him. There was a wariness in his eyes and a tenseness in his body; he seemed a little paler than usual.

Then again, she could hardly blame him.

She smiled weakly. "How are you feeling?"

He averted his gaze and paused before replying. "Alright," he said carefully.

Evangeline's eyebrows furrowed. "What's wrong?"

Kalepi shook his head and turned away. "The fit…" His voice was a hoarse whisper.

Evangeline moved intuitively closer. _What's this? Maternal instincts? Weird. _"It's OK," she said softly. "Only Jack, Gibbs and I saw, and they both know to keep quiet. Pintel and Ragetti are too stupid to notice anything, really." Kalepi threw her a curious glance. "The fat guy and his one-eyed pal."

"Oh."

"Either way," Evangeline continued. "No-one thinks any less of you. I certainly don't."

"You should," Kalepi whispered. "I'm a devil."

_No, you have a devil _inside _you. _Unlike her father, however, Evangeline had enough sense not to say this. "I don't believe that."

Kalepi looked at her but didn't say anything. She gazed back for a while without speaking. She had thought that his eyes were brown like hers, but she could see now that they were black, almost as black as his skin. They seemed to go on forever…

"Do you need anything?" she asked, forcing herself back to reality before she scared him off or something. He'd been through enough for one day. "Water? Food?"

"I'm fine. Thank you. I just need some more sleep."

Evangeline nodded. "I'll bring you back some dinner, OK?" She tried to smile reassuringly over her shoulder as she opened the door. "You'll be OK."

The door clicked shut behind her and she sagged against it. _I wish I could believe that._


	5. Chapter 5: Kalepi

**A/N: Probably about time I mentioned that I don't actually own POTC, huh? Just Evangeline and Kalepi, charming children that they are ;)**

I knew it. I _knew _it.

They're going to kill me. Evangeline brought me here as a sacrifice, like the lamb going in for the slaughter. Oh, she can make all the jokes and promises of protection she likes, but that doesn't make her any different all the other two-faced white women. Always looking out for their best interests. And really, who wouldn't want a hoard of hellhounds at their command? You wouldn't have to answer to anybody again. I can see why a pirate would want them. Hell, if I didn't know what they were like first-hand I'd probably want one too. But even if I asked, they wouldn't give me one. Because all I'm here for is so that they can open up their stupid Gates, and as for what will happen to me once they do- well. I'm a malnourished little boy, aren't I? Once that thrice-damned demon is out of me I'll probably keel over dead, at long last. I'm not stupid. I know I should have died a thousand deaths by now, what with all the beatings and the disease and the starvation and the exposure and the fits. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if my devil is the only thing keeping me standing. And if I _don't _die… Well. It's hardly in anyone's interests to keep me around. I'll be torn apart by hellhounds before I can even plead for my life.

God, but it was a close call out there before… I came around pretty quickly after my fit- I usually do, and minus the odd bruise or two I'm usually alright. My head throbbed like I'd been mauled by a cat- judging by my bloody fingernails, though, it was just me- but no worse for wear. I saw Evangeline's note pinned up on the dresser, but apart from the fact that her writing is very messy indeed there is the small, sadly unavoidable fact that I can't read. So I ventured out on deck, asked around and- aha. The captain's cabin. Having a private audience with Daddy, or so it would seem.

I haven't forgotten the way father and daughter looked at me before I passed out. And what with being stranded on a pirate ship, surrounded by strangers of a particularly criminal nature, I thought it was a perfect opportunity for finding out what was _really _going on. The door was ajar; I hunkered down behind a barrel and a fat coil of rope. Greasy, and dirty, but no-one could see me, and I could hear rather well.

And what should I hear but this? "What's he got to do with the Gates?"

Ho hum. Somehow I didn't get the feeling my new beloved captain was talking about Rocky the Carrot.

"Everything." You could almost _feel _the contempt in Evangeline's voice. "Just to open the Gates, you need a demon on both sides to push and pull the doors. Do you see why it's hardly ever been done before? Any demon on the inside would be busting to get out and would take the first opportunity to get involved in a ritual like this, but on the off chance there are any demons to be found on this side… It's difficult."

The shock of it made me tumble from my hiding place. I heard Evangeline's boots- ran for it- slid inside the First Mate's cabin just as she burst out of the captain's. All in all, a close call indeed.

I don't know why it surprised me so much. It's not like Evangeline is my best friend. I barely _know _her, let alone trust her. I've been telling myself this entire time: _be ready to run_. And then push comes to shove, and I almost give myself away.

Well. No more of _that_. I know what they're trying to do. The first chance I get, I'm getting out of here. The question is… _how_? I've spent enough time on ships to know that we're going to have to stop more than once along the way- probably sooner rather than later in this case, given the condition of the ship- but _when_? And how long for? Will I be guarded, imprisoned? And even if I do get away, I don't think I'd be completely safe from a bullet.

Just be careful, Kalepi. Don't accept Evangeline's offer of food, for example. I'm not taking a bowl of _anything _that hasn't been prepared by me. And I'll have to keep a close watch on everyone on this boat. Anyone could slit by throat when I'm not looking, and no-one would care. Maybe I can learn to sleep with one eye open. Old Man used to do it, back on the plantations. If an old geezer like him can do it, I don't see why I shouldn't be able to.

I'm just mastering the art when Evangeline reappears, concern all over her face. Help! Do I pretend to sleep, or-? No. Too late. A little uncertain spasm, and then I just end up staring at Evangeline like she's an alien.

"D'you want to come for dinner?" Jerking her head out to deck. When I don't respond, she gets all parent-y on me. And I thought I'd never have to deal with this. "You have to eat something, especially after…"

Go on. Say it. Say _fit_. I won't mind, but _he _might.

"Well." A fleeting smile. What's up with this woman? Can give a death glare enough to take down an elephant, and can't say one little word. "You know."

Yes, I do know. And I don't care, either. You can say what you like about it, it's not going to change anything. It just _is_. Getting offended over being called a demon won't do me much good, because it' true.

Of course, I won't say any of that out loud. For one thing- who cares? For another, I'm not a fan of divulging big secrets, especially not to Lady Evangeline Avi. A knife in the back is harder to take when it's from a friend.

By this point, we're crossing the (mercifully clean) deck and descending to some unknown crater deep within the ship's bowels. If Rocky the Carrot is the one preparing my meals, I'm not sure I really _want _to be having dinner, fit or not, but I don't suppose there's much else.

Mind you, it'd be pretty easy to mistake this place for someone's bowels. All steam and weird smells and loud noises… Though I'm not sure all bowels have little kitchens and big tables in them. Or a whole bunch of pirates, either. A relatively small crew, but enough to make the table crowded. Elbows go into faces, food sprays out across the table, a parrot squawks insults from an old man's shoulder.

Honestly. I've seen starving slaves with better manners than this.

"Sit down, I'll get you some food." Evangeline's hand on my shoulder, directing me to an empty patch of bench between the one-eyed man and his fat buddy, because it's certainly not for me.

"It' fine. I can get it." Because a) I am not leaving you alone with my food, and b) if a woman starts doing all my jobs for me everyone'll think I'm a weakling. Got to bid for my survival while I can.

Shrug. "OK."

Which is how, minutes later, I end up crushed between Evangeline and the One-Eyed man (who did, eventually, find his wooden eyeball, which is nice for him), looking at Evangelne imploringly.

"But he said it was _salad_."

Evangeline holds her spoon up at eye level, staring at it grimly. "I know."

I don't think you understand. "But it's _brown. _And… mushy…" Oh God. I don't even want to _look _at it, let alone eat it.

"I know." Throws her spoon down with a sigh. "Be right back."

She stands with a grace no-one else on board this vessel could manage, and disappears into the steam. Casting a quick glance around… everyone is absorbed in their food (what other monstrosities they must have endured to find this appetizing, I cannot begin to imagine). No-one will notice if I just… aha. Piling some 'salad' onto my spoon, shoving it onto Evangeline's plate, and taking her spoon for my own. Squeezing my eyes shut and gulping it down- just don't think about the taste, Kalepi- and here she is, the lady of the day, sliding back into her seat. Looks annoyed as she absently picks up my spoon… I don't feel strange, so her food mustn't have been poisoned… and if mine is, well. It's not so much murder as protective investigation. I'm going to Hell anyway, so I might as well do it properly.

She swallows it and- moment of truth!- no. She looks fine. Eats the rest of her food, chewing like it's done her a great personal wrong and focusing on the wall opposite her. Doesn't look too happy, but she's alive.

Staring at my poor excuse of a dinner. Looks like it's about time for me to do the same. Just grit your teeth and do it. Eyes shut, and… Oh, it's no better than the first mouthful. And… Is that _wriggling_? Oh my God. Too late now. _Down _it goes. If I die, I'm going to haunt Rocky for the rest of his life.

I miss my hole already.


	6. Chapter 6: Kalepi

Aha! _Bull's eye!_

Oops. Bad pun. Sorry.

You can see everything from the helm. Of course, I'm not manning the helm at the moment. That's how we'd all crash and drown, you see. No, it's No-Tongue (his real name is Cotton, but I'm taking my revenge for the whole kelp thing) taking us into Tortuga, which will be the site of my heroic escape that relies largely upon Cotton's parrot and lots of really drunk pirates- and from what I've seen, the latter are in a constant abundance.

Until then? Don't work on the deck, because the sun and strain might give you a fit. Don't work in the kitchen, because Evangeline already works there a lot and the steam and stuffiness might give you a fit. Don't climb the rigging or work in the bird's nest, because you might have a fit and fall (or push someone, though no-one says it). In fact, the best thing for you to do is sit quietly in the First Mate's cabin and drink lots of water.

I tried that for a few days, really, I did. But _God_, it was boring. And I had at least one fit a day. It was the _Third Star _all over again. My insane roommate- that's Evangeline, by the way, she doesn't want me alone in a hammock with the rest of the crew- never knew about them. But she wasn't convinced that manual labour gives me something to think about and lessens the number of fits. So I found a slingshot amongst the flotsam and jetsam of the cabin and discovered other ways to keep myself entertained on deck.

Discovery of the day? A well-aimed piece of shrapnel can send One-Eye's wooden eyeball sailing from his skull and onto the deck. _Pop_! If he would just move a little closer to the edge, I'd send it straight into the sea.

Whoops! He's turning around! Hide the slingshot, quick, before he- Oh God. He's found me. On guard! Will he or won't he? Apparently not, because… What? Ah. I see. He didn't see me, because he's blind in one eye.

Silly me.

"Scurvy dogs, scurvy dogs!" No-Tongue's parrot shrieks, startling me. _Scurvy dog _is its affectionate name for Evangeline. So where is she? She'd be awfully unhappy if she caught me abusing crew members- God forbid, she might send me back to the cabin! Can't go there. Time to disappear, I think.

I've only just dived behind another greasy coil of fat rope when I hear One-Eye call out. "My eye! Has anybody seen my eye?"

Heh. Maybe I _did _send it over the side.

A heavy sigh. "Here, Ragetti."

Never mind. Saint Evangeline has found it, curse her.

"Ah- oh, thank you, m'lady."

"That's alright." Doesn't even bother correcting him on her name. Ha! Even _I _don't have to call Evangeline 'my lady' anymore. Sharing a cabin with a crazy lady has its benefits, my friend.

But be quiet now. Those formidably shiny boots wander into vision. "Cotton, have you seen Kalepi anywhere?"

There's a pause when she seems to remember that Cotton can't actually talk. "Cotton's _Parrot_, have you seen Kalepi anywhere?"

(No-one likes addressing the parrot. It's such a rude old thing, and it's awfully demeaning to talk to a _parrot_.)

"Kelp! Kelp!" Even the bird's caught on. You'll be happy to know that I _have _come up with a nickname for it, but it's too rude to repeat except to myself.

"Yes, Kelp," Evangeline sighs wearily. "Where-? Oh. Is he? Thank you, Cotton. You should get a new parrot."

Well then, looks like I'm safe. But- what? No! The blasted old man has betrayed me! He must have seen me duck behind here. Evangeline raises her eyebrows questioningly as she looks down on me, rope dangling in her hand.

"Oh. Um, hi. I was taking a nap-"

"It doesn't matter," she grins. "Just thought I'd let you know we'll be in Tortuga by nightfall. Just don't wander, OK? It's a crazy place, we don't want to lose you."

I'm sure you don't. "Nightfall? But I can't even see it on the horizon!"

Evangeline grins. "It's not the fastest ship on the sea for nothing. Look."

And I do. And it's not possible, but in the minutes since I dived behind the rope a shadow has appeared on the horizon and is beginning to take shape. Unbelievable! I'll never get over how quickly this ship moves.

"Will you be leaving the ship at all?" It'll be easier if I'm with Evangeline. People won't ask questions.

Evangeline frowns and blows a dark curl out of her face. "We're still meant to be captives, remember? Just stay in the cabin with me until I say. Sorry."

Ah. Shame, that. But this is great news! Thank you, Evangeline. I'll be out of here by sunrise, and then… What? What'll I do then? Tortuga _is _a pirate port, after all. All those loud noises and drunken pirates… I'm almost _certain _to have a fit. And if I do, it's more than likely that I'll be cut down on the spot, and my body parts will be sold to… I don't even want to think about it.

But I can't stay here. That much is certain. Because if I stay, I will die. One way or another. I can't trust anyone on board this cursed ship- not smiley Evangeline, not my good disabled friend Cotton, not even the stringy Ragetti. And especially not Jack. I barely see him on deck, but there's something about that guy you just don't trust. Maybe it's the overpowering stench of liquor. I don't know. But it's safer to hate him, that much I'm sure of.

Returning to my former perch to gaze out upon the ocean. Tortuga is indeed approaching as the sun sinks (have I mentioned the unbelievable speed of this ship?) and the crew are restless. Makes you wonder, really, how many will actually stay on board to help with repairs and how many will flee for a night of booze and women. And then how many will just cower in the First Mate's cabin, too busy with being a hostage to worry about much else.

Hopefully, only one.

And there she is now, gazing out across the sea… No, staring intently at her hand, looking annoyed. She seems to do that a lot when she thinks I'm not looking. All smiles and cheer when she's talking to me, but frowns and sarcasm to everyone else. I know why, though. It's supposed to make me like her, make me trust her. Ha! I see through _that _ruse. As if I'm going to fall for it.

Still. I am awfully curious about why her hand could be bothering her so much.

I've always been told that children should be seen and not heard, but in my case I often think it's best to be neither seen nor heard. Creeping up silently behind my prey, peering over her shoulder… A compass. Oh, how boring. Why does it bother… Oh. I see. It doesn't point north. Just wheels around wildly before jabbing backwards, stubbornly refusing to move. What a stupid device! Wonder how she came by it…

"It's Jack's," she says, and I nearly jump out of my skin. It's like she read my mind! How did she even know I was here? No- wait. She's not a mindreading gypsy. My big stupid hat (another treasure from the cabin) is casting a shadow over her arm.

Should've seen that coming. Note to self, Kalepi.

"What's wrong with it?" I ask, daring to come closer. It hasn't moved from its post.

"No idea." Evangeline turns and holds her fist up high. What's she doing? She's waving it in her Daddy's face, that's what. Where did he come from? "Hoi! Dad! Your stupid compass is broken!"

She tosses it once in the air and catches it again, wiggling it in Jack's direction. He looks confused for a moment- checks his belt- confirms the truth- and storms towards us with an annoyed _tsch. _Evangeline giggles as he snatches it from her palm, checking it anxiously like he's worried Evangeline's broken it.

Ho hum! What's this? It swings around as soon as it touches Jack' hand, stopping to point in another direction.

Evangeline notices this too, and cranes her neck to see. "How come it doesn't point north?"

Jack snaps it shut and glances up, then grins, flashing his mismatched teeth. "What is it you desire most?" he asks cryptically, tossing it back into Evangeline's hands.

"Dunno," she says slowly, giving Jack a suspicious look. "Why?"

He just gestures at her to open it. Giving him another calculating glance, she opens it and-

_Snap! _Immediately closes it. I only saw it for a second, but I could swear the needle was pointing directly at Jack.

"As if," Evangeline snorts, tossing it to me. Whoops! Careful now, Kalepi. Don't drop this here magical compass. "Some cheap gimmick you got from a gypsy?"

"It has never failed me and it never will," Jack declares superiorly, holding a dirty hand out for the compass. Won't even look at me! I bet he's done disgraceful things with being even more low-life than me.

Hang on a minute! I want to have a look. I already know what I want most- to get off this stupid ship- but still… I open it carefully (don't break it) and look.

It doesn't point to Tortuga. It doesn't even point at Evangeline. It points out somewhere across the great blue sea. Home? Port Royal? I don't know. I want to find out, though.

Which I can only do if I stay on this ship…

Oh dear. What have I gotten myself into?

xXx

Well. It hardly matters what I've gotten myself into, because as of right now I'm getting out of it.

Tortuga truly is a terrifying place. The lights are all dim, but you can hear the shouting and the shrieks of laughter and the gunshots and the shattering of heavy bottles from the ship. Almost every pirate has deserted the _Pearl _in search of 'supplies' (yeah, right) and all that remain are Marty the Midget (the only person on this ship who is shorter than me) and the foul-mouthed parrot. Oh, and Evangeline, but she's holed up safely in her cabin.

_I, _on the other hand, am sneaking around without permission. Oh, the horror! It's a good opportunity to learn, though. There'll be a lot of sneaking around for the next few months, because I can't stay here. I'll have to stow away, I've decided, and get off at the first nice-looking port we come into. Yes, good plan. The only one I've got.

Creeping along the deck, quietly. Staying low to the ground. Marty and the parrot are having a swearing contest, or so it would seem (a true wealth of new vocabulary in that conversation) and no-one is paying me any attention. Thankful, for the first time, that I have skin the colour of night. Harder to pick out that way. I even had the precaution to leave my stupid hat behind! I should go into the business for this, because I'm awfully good at it.

Now, where's that rope… Aha. A little slimy, yes, but that will only make my disembarkation easier. And if I fall off… Well, there are plenty of people slipping and sliding around here. No-one will notice one little slave boy.

Euchh… Oh, God, this is disgusting. What does Jack _do _with these ropes when he's not using them? Maybe this is what Rocky's 'salads' are made of. No use whinging about it now, though. Hands first… Now just shinny on a little bit-

"Kalepi?"

Who, me? Nope. No Kalepi here. Just keep going, she hasn't seen you… Almost there…

Ah! Help! Someone's trying to take my pants! I can't go to a pirate port without my _pants_! Back, you cretin! Let me- Oh.

Looks like she _did _see me. And she has the waist of my pants gathered in one fist, eyebrows raised.

"So… Taking a stroll?" she asks.

Oh God. She's going to kill me. "Um, well. You see, Evangeline…"


	7. Chapter 7: Evangeline

Evangeline almost missed him.

She had been lying on her back in her bed in Gibbs' (newly cleaned, no thanks to Kalepi- men were all the same) and brooding at the ceiling. Jack's stupid compass had occupied her thoughts all day. Why would it have pointed at _Jack_? How could hebe connected to her heart's desire? There was nothing she wanted from him. She _hated _him. It made no sense at all.

Or so she told herself.

There were many things Evangeline never said outside of her own head, and for good reason. Nine times out of ten it was because her thoughts would offend many people and get her killed. But there were other thoughts, things that occurred to her when she lay up very late at night, that she would never say out loud simply because they were embarrassing. In Port Royal, she couldn't really care less about reputations; hers was dashed enough as it was. But on board the _Pearl_, she was the captain's daughter: exotic, mysterious, distant. Untouchable. It was how she survived on board a ship crowded with filthy stinking men. Showing off her vulnerability would get her absolutely nowhere.

However, it was her vulnerabilities that might answer her question as she lay there, glaring at the ceiling as if it had done her great personal wrong. She had not seen Jack in many years, but he had scarcely changed from the drunken, annoying, self-important idiot she'd met so long ago. Her encounters and voyages with him had been brief, but she had always kept a careful watch on him. She knew what he was like. And she knew, maybe better than anyone, that he would _never _change. Evangeline already knew her heart's desire: a parent. A proper one, who would be there and watch over her and scold her and teach her and all those other parent-y things. But she also knew that she would never, _ever _find a parent in Jack Sparrow.

So why had the needle pointed to him?

These thoughts ran in and out of her head for hours until she could stand it no longer. She had to stretch her legs, get some fresh air. Abuse Cotton's parrot, because that was an argument she knew she could win. Maybe cook something, because good food tended to help improve her mood. Anything but sit here, whiling away in a filthy cabin.

"Kalepi, I'm just heading out," she called to the darkness of the cabin. There was no reply. She guessed he was asleep, but paused just in front of the door. She had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she had scarcely noticed whether or not Kalepi had come inside like she'd told him to. She moved over to the pile of blankets and clothes that was his bed- he refused to take the bed for himself, which impressed Evangeline- and felt around in the darkness.

Nothing.

Panic rose up in her throat. Where was he? Had someone else found him? Even worse- had _Kidd _found him? It was bad enough if some pirate found him and cut his throat, but if Kidd had captured him the entire world could be doomed. And she had promised to protect him from all of that kind of stuff…

She was about to burst out of the cabin and demand a thorough search of the ship and surrounding areas when she caught herself. Kalepi was a curious little boy. She knew that there were plenty of things that went on in his head that he never dared say out loud- probably for the same reason she never voiced her thoughts too much. And she also knew that he didn't trust anyone. She could see it in the way he looked at almost everyone- it was exactly the same look she'd given many people too many times. Accordingly, from the way he looked at her when he thought she wasn't watching, Evangeline knew that Kalepi didn't trust her. How much he did or didn't know about his situation, on the other hand, Evangeline did _not _know. Either way, it was a fair enough assumption that he would try to run away at the first opportunity. Evangeline would do the same.

_So, _she thought, quietly opening the door and standing on deck, tapping her hip with her fingers. _If I was going to escape from here, how would I do it?_

It was too dark to risk leaping from the ship to the docks and possibly falling in, so she ruled that out. Finding a plank and putting it across would take too long and be too noisy, so that was out too. So obviously the easiest thing to do would be to sneak off with the other pirates. Kalepi was small enough to get lost amongst them, and he could pull the brim of his ridiculously big straw hat low over his face and pretend he was Marty. Evangeline's heart sank. Of course that was what he had done, and who knew where he could be now? She had to find Jack and tell him-

_What was that? _Evangeline whipped her head around, squinting into the blackness. She was sure she'd seen something. A little movement, a scuffle of feet… Maybe it was just a rat. Maybe not.

Her hand crept slowly to her belt, and then stopped. She stood straight, looked down and swore softly to herself. Captain's daughter, trapped on a pirate ship, previously proved to be lethally accurate with a gun in her hands, and she _still _didn't have a weapon hanging off her hip. She was supposed to be descended from a long line of famous pirates! Ah, Blackbeard would have been ashamed if he had seen her. If she ever met her grandfather in the afterlife, she made a mental note not to mention this to him.

Instead, Evangeline had to rely only on her fists and wits in this situation- and, if she was going to be frank, both were pretty sharp. She crept out onto the deck, fists clenched, walking with her knees bent in the defence position. If anything- man, woman or rat- where to jump out at her, she would be ready for them.

_Aha_! There it was again! She crouched down low, ready to pounce- and paused. His skin was so dark it blended into the night and she almost missed him, but he had uttered a faint cry of disgust as he brushed the ropes with his fingers, giving himself away. Evangeline smirked to herself and settled back, just to watch for a little while. She had sat and listened and watched at countless dinners as he complained and made faces at his food, and so his manner as he steeled himself and wrapped his hands around the slimy rope were familiar to her. He was a world-class complainer and had awfully high standards, considering his previous occupation.

Evangeline shook her head. All of the escape routes, and he chose _this _one? He had a _long _way to go. "Kalepi?"

He ignored her and kept inching down the rope. Evangeline felt her heart beat rise- he was actually going to do it- Picky Princess Kalepi was _actually going to slide down a slimy rope_- he would be gone soon if she didn't do something- "Kalepi."

She started towards him, urgency creeping into her voice. He had almost tipped over the side, into the blackness, when she flung her hand out and grabbed the back of his pants. For a terrible moment it looked like he might wriggle out of them and leave her with only a fistful of cloth, but he started and whirled around and-

Evangeline lifted an eyebrow and tried to look stern. "So… Taking a stroll?"

Kalepi struggled to reassert both his dignity and his excuses. "Um, well. You see, Evangeline…"

The words seemed to die in his throat. Evangeline laughed, shook her head, and yanked him back onto the boat. "Seriously, kid? All the escape routes and you go for the slimy rope. Very courageous of you, but not very smart."

He looked surprised at her response, but managed a shaky laugh. "Yeah… Yeah. Guess I should've, uh, though about it…" He trailed off and looked at Evangeline strangely. "What makes you think I was escaping?"

Evangeline rolled her eyes. "God, I dunno. The creeping around at night? Ignoring me when I called you? Choosing what would seem to be the most subtle exit on this ship? Which of these would _possibly _give me the impression you were trying to get away?"

Kalepi laughed nervously again, rubbing the back of his neck. Evangeline shifted her weight to one leg and put her hands on her hips, watching him carefully. "Question is… Why?"

He looked torn with indecision. Evangeline understood that, too. It was often hard to decide if you trusted someone enough to reveal your plan to them. She gave him the obvious prompt and said, "You can trust me."

The look in Kalepi's eyes told her that, as far as he was concerned, he couldn't. But once again, he said nothing about it and just shook his head. "Just practising," he said, not looking at her. "You know. Pirate ship, and all that. Need to know these things."

Evangeline wanted to press him but knew that, like her, he would say nothing he didn't want to. So she just reluctantly patted his shoulder and directed him back to their cabin. "Well, just… Stay in the cabin, OK? It'd be pretty bad if we lost you."

Kalepi seemed to have something to say about that and bit his tongue, instead saying, "But you were out here too."

Evangeline didn't bother trying to hide her grin, remembering the hundreds of times she had said exactly the same thing to nuns that found her and scolded her for wandering around the convent after hours. "Let's just say I'm a rule breaker too," she said with a wink, gently pushing Kalepi back to the cabin as she walked over to the helm.

She could feel his eyes on her as he stood in the doorway, trying to decide whether or not he should go inside. She knew he would go in, eventually, simply because he saw no other way out. She would watch him for the rest of the night and there was no use pretending other wise.

Eventually the door clicked shut and Evangeline began to sing under her breath. "_Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate's life for me."_

Maybe she and Kalepi were more alike than it would seem.


	8. Chapter 8: Evangeline

Evangeline yawned, exhausted. They had spent almost a week- a _week_- in Tortuga, and she had stayed up every night to make sure Kalepi didn't try to escape again. He didn't, but that was little comfort for Evangeline as she sagged against the side of the _Pearl_. Kalepi stood by her side, considerably shorter, and his arms hung limply over the side. At first she thought he was going to be sick, but after a few minutes Evangeline was wondering if it was just a comfortable position for him.

"Is that comfortable?" she asked doubtfully.

Kalepi considered it, wiggling around a little. "I guess," he said after a moment. "My fingers are throbbing a bit."

"Ah. Bummer."

"Mm."

Silence fell again. Their conversations had been going like this for days: after she caught him trying to escape, it was as if Kalepi had doubled the walls he'd built around himself and now she had no way of getting in- at least, not without force, or maybe bribery. She could offer him information about his past, but it wasn't much use if he already knew it and if he didn't, what would she say anyway? All she knew about him was that he had been possessed by a demon at birth, taken by slave traders when he was still just a boy and escaped somewhere along the line to come to Port Royal. If he didn't already know that himself, she would be more than a little bit concerned. No, there would be no in-depth conversations with him- not for a while, anyway. Maybe the walls would crumble over time…

Just as Evangeline opened her mouth to try again, there was a strangled cry of alarm followed by the almighty roar of the exploding sea. Salt water erupted upwards and came crashing back down onto the deck, drenching the wood and everyone that stood on it. The ship rocked violently from side to side, throwing Evangeline against the side much like Kalepi was, though he was now holding on considerably tighter and looking suitably alarmed.

Evangeline whirled around clumsily, bracing herself against the side of the deck. She stared, in open-mouthed shock, at the dripping ghost ship that had appeared beside them. Before her eyes, fully-armed men appeared on deck and rounded up the stunned crew members, one by one. A few of them threw confused glances at each other, and Evangeline was astounded when Gibbs gave the murmured order to drop their weapons.

Once again, her hand started to her waist, where the holster of a weapon should have been. Again, nothing. She stomped her foot a little in agitation, and instinctively pushed Kalepi behind her when one of the intruders, an older man than Jack, levelled his cutlass at her throat.

"Who're you?" the man demanded in a hoarse voice. "You look familiar."

Kalepi raised an eyebrow at Evangeline. "You know this man?"

"Never seen him before," Evangeline replied, holding her chin high. She would not show her fear. She had to reassert her authority. She had to ask the first questions. "Who are- where- how did you-" Her questions got tangled in her throat. She glanced around the ship wildly until he saw something that might mean anything. "Who's that guy?"

Three heads turned as one to look at where Evangeline was pointing; namely, at the man jabbing his own sword at Jack's throat at the helm. Kalepi raised his eyebrows again. "_That's _your big question?"

There was no response, because then the man turned around again with a light of realization in his eyes when he looked at Evangeline again. "You," the man breathed in a hoarse voice. "You look like Jack."

Evangeline paused. "You know my dad?"

The man gestured with his sword. "Stand with him." They hesitated. "Go!"

Evangeline jumped and crossed the deck with quick steps, Kalepi trailing along behind. The man followed, sword at Kalepi's back. Eventually they stood behind Jack, and the man who was threatening him glanced at Evangeline once and did a comical double-take.

"Who is she?" he demanded, of no-one in particular.

"Captain's daughter, Mister Turner," the older man replied.

"Thank you, Mister Turner."

Evangeline snapped her fingers as Mister Turner the Elder shuffled away. "Oh! I know you! You're Davy Jones, right?"

Even as she said it, she knew she was right: the ghost ship that could appear anywhere on the seas, the William Turner who had sailed with her father… She glanced at his chest, visible between the folds of a loosely buttoned shirt, and sure enough a long scar was carved right over his heart. Rocky had told her so many fantastical stories about Davy Jones, and here he was, standing right before her.

William Turner sniffed. "Just Will Turner, actually."

"Davy Jones?" Kalepi piped up. "He's a myth."

Evangeline gave him a quizzical look over her shoulder. Will looked offended. "A ghost ship just appeared beside ours and you can't believe one little myth?"

Kalepi shrugged and nodded. "So… Why is he here?"

"Don't ask me!" Evangeline turned to Will. "Why are you here?"

He eyed both Evangeline and Kalepi carefully for a moment before saying, "A negotiation over a conflict of territory."

"What do you- _oh_." It was rather incredible, Evangeline thought, what eyes could communicate when the mouth could not. For example, she knew from the slow, leisurely glance William Turner gave Kalepi that he knew about him, and was also very good at concealing secret messages. Jack, on the other hand, threw them both a fervent glance, dreadlocks swinging around his head, which caught Kalepi's attention and didn't conceal anything.

"Might we move this someplace else?" Will asked.

"One finds it rather difficult to move anything with a sword a one's throat," Jack pointed out, glancing meaningfully at Will's blade.

He sheathed it and looked again at Evangeline, and then at Jack. Another silent question. "Oh, I suppose you'd better come too," Jack snapped, grabbing Evangeline's wrist and dragging her down from the helm.

"What about me?" Kalepi demanded. Evangeline looked over her shoulder as she stumbled down the steps and saw all of his suspicion reflected in his eyes. She cursed Jack internally for his indiscretion and barely had time to shrug before the door of the captain's cabin was slammed shut again.

She was rather sick of the captain's cabin.

"What are you playing at, Jack?" Will demanded as soon as the door was shut.

Jack held his hands up in defence. "It's not my game," he said, throwing a glance at Evangeline.

Will's eyebrows furrowed. "I meant to ask what you were doing here. And since when-?"

"Doesn't matter," Evangeline snapped, throwing herself down into Jack's grand leather chair. She was in no mood to discuss her birth with a stranger. "But before you start pointing fingers, mister, I might tell you that we're not trying to open the Gates. We're keeping Kalepi safe to prevent anyone else from opening them. So you can take you and your stupid conflict of territory- hang on. What's that even _mean_?"

Will blinked, taken aback by her outburst. It gave Evangeline no small amount of satisfaction to put him in his place. He opened his mouth to speak again, but Jack cut across him.

"The duty bequeathed by the powers that be upon dear William includes guiding the souls-"

"The souls of those who died at sea to their final resting place," Evangeline finished impatiently. "Yes, I know. But that's your _job, _not your _territory_."

"I'm not finished," Jack said with a grin. His silver teeth winked in the candlelight. "It just so happens that Will _does _have a territory. I've seen it."

Truth dawned upon Evangeline. "Davy Jones' Locker," she breathed, then looked at Will with a wrinkled nose. "_William Turner's Locker _doesn't quite have the same ring."

"That doesn't matter," Will said, a trifle testily. "The point _is_, the boy-"

"His name," Evangeline said patiently. "Is Kalepi."

"_Kalepi_," he started again. "Is dangerous. If the wrong person gets his hands on him-"

"Yes, well, that's why he's here," Evangeline interrupted again. "We know what will happen if someone else finds him, and we're going to protect him from that. Thanks for your concern, but we're managing perfectly well on our own. Toodles!"

"I don't like all this _we _talk," Jack muttered unhappily. "This is _your _idea."

Sadly, in spite of Evangeline's best effort, Will didn't leave. Rather, he strode over and planted his hands firmly on the wood of the desk, leaning forward so that he and Evangeline were almost nose-to-nose. "If the Gates _are _open, there will be a new master of Hell and everything- and every_one_- in it."

"I really don't see what this has to do with you and your Locker," Evangeline replied steadily.

"I think I do," Jack said, and Will and Evangeline turned. Even Jack looked surprised at himself. He pushed himself out of his chair and began waltzing around that room in that way he did when he was just being generally annoying. Evangeline rolled her eyes and fell back into her chair.

"Hell is where the souls of bad people go when they die, yes?" Jack began, looking at Evangeline for confirmation. Having been raised in a convent, she nodded. "And the Locker is where the souls of people who die at sea go. More or less, anyway."

Evangeline saw the pieces fall together, and glanced at Will. "_That's _your conflict of territory? They're two different things, mate. I wouldn't worry about it."

Will shrugged. "Anything is possible with the forces of Hell at one's command. I think it best not to take my chances."

"Neither do we," Evangeline replied frostily. "We're not trying to invade your beloved territory. We're just trying to keep Kalepi safe. What do you want?"

"The boy," Will replied simply. "Great show you're running here, and all, but he would be a great deal safer on board the _Dutchman_."

"Take him," Jack grunted, rather resigned.

"No!" Evangeline cried, glaring at her father. "Just because you can breathe underwater doesn't mean he can. And kids shouldn't have to grow up escorting the souls of the dead to the afterlife, anyway!"

"Oh, and drifting meaninglessly is supposed to be better for him?" Will snapped.

"It's not meaningless," Evangeline muttered, but she had lost her conviction. The man, heartless as he was, had a point. "We're trying to help him."

Will opened his mouth to retort, but Jack (who had risen without anyone else noticing) put a hand on his shoulder. Will gave him a funny look, and Jack glanced at Evangeline, jerking his head roughly to indicate that it was time for her to leave.

She was generous with death glares as she stormed out to join the rest of the crew on deck.


	9. Chapter 9: Jack

The door had no sooner slammed shut than when Will looked at Jack quizzically.

"Since when-?"

"Not important," Jack snapped, rising from his desk and poking his head out to ensure Evangeline hadn't stuck around to eavesdrop. Oddly enough, she had done what Jack had asked of her for once, and was standing with the crew. What didn't surprise him was the fact that she was attempting to start conversation with her captors, none of whom looked particularly interested in what she had to say.

Satisfied, he slammed the door shut once more and turned to face the current problem.

"What _is _important is what we plan to do with this boy," he continued, sauntering over to a cabinet that leaned worryingly to the left. He tugged the doors open and inspected the many, mostly empty, bottles of spirits that awaited him there.

Very little had changed since the last time Will had seen him.

Will's eyebrows lifted a fraction. "You'd kill him? Against your own daughter's wishes?"

His eyes twinkled and his voice carried a hint of tease; Jack caught it and glared over his shoulder before sniffing disparagingly.

"I've been dead once before, mate. I've no wish to experience again, especially not at her hands."

"I'd get you VIP treatment," Will said helpfully.

Jack's ears almost visibly pricked at the mention of a bargain, but when he saw the grin tugging at Will's lips he shook his head.

"Let's review," he said tartly, pouring a potent-smelling liquid into a pair of rusty, dented goblets. "You want the brat under control, or at least dead. I want the brat dead, or at least off my ship. My beloved spawn wants him cured, or at least safe, and Kidd just wants him to open the Gates for him."

Will's eyebrows shot up. "Since when was Kidd involved?"

"Since before I was," Jack said dismissively, waving the glass bottle over his shoulder and very nearly hitting Will's nose. "Point is, there's a way to make this work to everyone's advantage."

Jack tipped his head back and drained one goblet; Will's eyebrows lifted again and he started towards the other cup in Jack's hand. "Oh?"

"Oh," Jack confirmed, draining the second goblet without further ado. Will looked unimpressed, but not surprised. "We'll play dearest Evangeline's game, and keep him around until she finds some way to exorcise him. Or whatever it is she needs to do."

If Will had been uncertain before, now he was downright skeptical. "You'd do that?" he snorted in disbelief.

Jack shrugged. "Just doing my duty as a civilian."

"A civilian?" Will challenged. "Or a father?"

He watched triumphantly as Jack's mouth opened, then closed; then opened again, this time with an accompanying finger waving up in Will's face. By now he had given up on any intelligent response and rolled his eyes.

"It doesn't matter," he said, and Jack retreated. "What's in it for you?"

Jack grinned like the skull that flew from all too many pirate ships, the light catching on his silver and gold teeth. "In return for my services, all I ask is that you and your jolly crew keep an eye on Kidd's ship and blast it to pieces if he gets too close for comfort!" he said cheerily, poking the pearly scar over Will's empty chest cavity as if to make a point.

Will's face was an impenetrable wall. "I can't," he said flatly.

"Why not?" Jack demanded.

"I can't get involved."

"Your predecessor did," Jack pointed out.

"And look at what happened to him.

Jack opened his mouth to make yet another point, finger at the ready, but Will interrupted him.

"I have a duty to attend to, Jack. And I have no desire to abandon it."

He looked at Jack pointedly, who wrinkled his nose and stroked his chin distastefully.

"Don't have tentacles," he told Will helpfully.

"Well spotted," Will replied drily. "Davy Jones is a legend, Jack. I'd like to keep it that way."

"Well then," Jack quipped, making for the door. "Legends don't need help settling 'conflicts of territory', so I suggest you get on your merry way."

He opened the door and gestured for Will to leave, grinning rather as if he had a toothache.

Will didn't move.

"Go on. They're waiting."

Finally, Will relented. "I'll warn you if he's close," Will said reluctantly, and Jack smiled like a cat that had just eaten all of the canaries.

"That's all I ask."

"I can't promise anything," Will warned, stepping past Jack and moving through the door.

Jack's smile didn't waver.

The two captains moved down to the deck, where all activity stopped. Peering over a sea of heads, Jack could see that the crews of both the _Dutchman _and the _Pearl _were intently watching a draughts game between Kalepi and Evangeline. Evangeline, he noted, wasn't very good at it.

Will cleared his throat noisily, and the crew snapped to attention sheepishly. He gestured with his head, and just like that they melted through the wood and were back on board their own ship in the blink of an eye.

"And I win," Kalepi said, glancing up for the first time. His expression of triumph quickly changed to one of bewilderment. "Hey! Where'd everyone go?"

The crew of the _Pearl _had also dispersed, gathering to watch the _Dutchman _do its famous vanishing act. Jack had seen it all too many times and lingered; Evangeline noticed and swaggered over, standing next to her father and leaning in close.

"What did he say to you?" she asked him suspiciously.

Jack's cat grin widened. "Another deal with the devil," was all he said.


	10. Chapter 10: Evangeline

It had been days since the _Pearl's _encounter with the _Dutchman_, and Evangeline was not impressed.

Jack wasn't speaking to her or anyone else, for that matter; when Evangeline sent Gibbs in on a secret mission to uncover Jack's train of thought, he was sent out of the cabin moments later on the grounds that he was 'disturbing the peace'. His responses, if ever he gave them, were cryptic and he didn't eat (not with the crew, anyway). He rarely showed his face outside the cabin, now, and the _Pearl _was, for all intents and purposes, captainless. The ship bobbed aimlessly on the big blue sea, and in spite of the piracy in her blood Evangeline was sick of it. The crew were getting restless, too, she could tell. This wasn't pirating; this was _sailing_. Plain old boring sailing. Not a single adventure in sight. They were pirates, not merchants. Jack would be facing a mutiny soon if he wasn't careful.

Kalepi wasn't much better, either- in spite of Evangeline's hopes, his walls had not weakened one bit. For a twelve year old boy, he was completely and totally unfathomable, and Evangeline would no sooner get him to trust her than she would start breathing underwater (and at the rate things were going, she would master the latter before the former). She was also beginning to wonder if he had psychic powers on top of demonic possession, because there was no way that a kid could be _that good _at checkers.

All the same, she worried for him. She didn't like the grin on Jack's face when he had emerged from his meeting with the heartless captain, and she didn't like any of the behaviour that had followed. She knew he didn't like Kalepi. She knew he thought that Kalepi threatened the safety of everyone on board, particularly his. She knew better than to trust him, but what else could she do?

These thoughts and more were filling her head when Cotton's parrot appeared in front of her. She started, then glared at the shaggy old thing.

"Shoo," she snapped, shepherding it away with her hands.

"_Scurvy dogs, scurvy dogs_!" it shrieked.

Evangeline hissed and snapped her teeth together; the parrot cawed and flew off, screeching obscenities back at her. Next port they stopped at, she would find Cotton a new parrot if it killed her.

She'd only just started thinking about what kind of parrot would suit the old geezer when there was a bellow from above: "LAND AHOY!"

The sleepy deck jerked to life as if struck by lightning; ears pricked and heads snapped up, and all at once every single crew member had swarmed to the sides, craning their necks and squinting into the horizon. Evangeline sprang up onto the rigging and monkeyed her way up, swinging off one arm and shielding her eyes with a brown hand.

She didn't expect to see anything; a cry from the bird's nest didn't really mean much until a few hours after it had been made, what with perspective and all that. All too often, 'land' was nothing more than a dead, drifting whale, or a mirage, or a very distant ship. It wouldn't even surprise Evangeline if the sailor was making it up, just for a bit of excitement for a change.

The crew seemed to be thinking the same thing, for the horizon was as empty as it had ever been and they turned away, grumbling in mutual disgust. Heart sinking, Evangeline lingered, dangling limply off the rigging. Turner's words of floating aimlessly looking for a cure for Kalepi returned to her and she felt sick to her stomach. What if he was right? Kalepi had been perfectly comfortable in his hole (at least, as comfortable as _anyone _could be in a hole); he wasn't looking for a cure. Not actively, at least. She'd had no right to drag him away from that semi-peace and into this mess. And if Kidd did find him, then it would be all her fault.

She swung down the rigging once more, moving considerably slower, with her mind made up: she would tell Jack to turn around, and she would tell him to take them home. Maybe she could take Kalepi in, to live with her in the manor at Port Royal. She doubted it. He would probably return to his hole and continue his quiet, wasting existence in peace until his last breath.

Depressing, but still. Anything was better than this.

She jumped the last few feet to the deck and made her way to the captain's cabin, head low and dejected. She would probably go and whinge about this to Rocky later- she had gotten into the habit of frequently using him as a verbal and emotional punching bag- but until then, she had to confess to her father.

Oh, joy of joys.

"Evangeline!"

The Evangeline in question looked up with a start; her brown eyes widened in amazement when she saw none but the one and only Jack Sparrow standing at the helm, surveying his ship and crew with as much snobbery and self-importance as usual. Granted, he looked a little pastier than he had when Evangeline had seen him last, but he would no doubt remedy that soon enough.

Spurred on by the shock of seeing him outside, Evangeline answered his summons immediately (and much to both of their surprise). She jogged to his side and surveyed their surroundings; charts and navigational tools were littered about their feet. Business as usual, then.

"You're feeling awfully active," she observed.

"Lovely day, isn't it?" Jack replied, ignoring her as completely as usual. "I daresay it's time for a little stop over, don't you think?"

Evangeline's eyes narrowed, and almost as if on cue there was a bellow from the crow's nest once again, and the crew flocked to the side once more. Watching Jack suspiciously, she followed them and, pushing her hair out of her face, had yet another reason to drop her jaw: it was no mirage. There, large as life, was an island, rapidly drawing closer.

It was no coincidence. Evangeline fell upon the charts, sifting through them with the dexterous hands of someone who was born to do this. In minutes she had found their position- or thereabouts- and her head snapped up to Jack, who was watching her with an expectant grin.

"_Africa?_" she hissed. "Jack, you _know_ we can't-"

"Actually, I think you'll find that we _can_," Jack countered, nodding at the island ahead of them.

Evangeline glared. "The Gates are that close- Kidd could be hanging around, just waiting for someone to float by-"

"I'll know if he is," Jack replied with a knowing grin. His self-assured cockiness infuriated Evangeline, and her hands curled into fists.

"_Listen, _Jack," she hissed, her face suddenly inches from his own. "You can make all the stupid little prophecies you like, but this is a promise: if Kalepi gets hurt because _you _thought it was a good idea to bring us to the Gates- hell, if _anything _goes wrong while we're here I will _personally _haunt you for the rest of your life until you regret the day you were born, and even _then _I will pursue you to the very ends of the earth."

Jack was unfazed, and Evangeline hadn't expected him to take a word on board anyway. But she found that it almost always helped to shout at Jack when she was frustrated. "Consider meself warned, love," he replied. "Better go get your little brat. We're going ashore."

Evangeline glared a moment longer, filled her eyes with as much hatred and fury as possible, then whipped around- hoping with all her heart that her hair had swung around and hit him in the face- and marched off.

She was halfway down the deck when she realized that some of her hair may have landed in Jack's mouth, which meant that she was now partially coated in his spittle.

With a strangled cry of muted disgust she tucked her hair under a hat in the most furious manner ever seen.

xXx

The island they had landed in was scarcely different from any other tropical island in the world. The jungle was thick and steamy and damn near impossible to navigate. Weird animals rustled in the ground near their feet and the plants were big and impractical. They waded through hot, stagnant rivers- sometimes so deep that Evangeline would have to hoist an embarrassed Kalepi onto her shoulders- and hiked up never-ending mountains. Through it all, Jack was impossibly silent; Evangeline's bad temper increased, and Kalepi could only watch, keeping whatever opinions he had safely locked behind big brown eyes.

Eventually they reached a long, flat plateau. Much of the ground beneath their sore feet, Evangeline was pleased to notice, was flat and dry- a nice break from the uncertainty of jungle undergrowth. Weeds and trees lingered on the side, and it was under one of these that Evangeline sought shade and refuge from the heat. Kalepi lingered for an awkward moment amongst the crew, but in the weeks since his arrival he had still gained no place amongst their ranks. Almost reluctantly, he moved to Evangeline's side.

He settled himself next to her quite comfortably, and she offered a water skin to him. He glanced at it suspiciously, and Evangeline rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Come on, it's _water. _Contrary to whatever your heart is set on, I'm really not trying to kill you."

He looked away, embarrassed. "Never dream of it," he mumbled, accepting the water skin.

Evangeline smirked. "Right. One of the guys give you rum before?"

After a moment's hesitation, Kalepi nodded.

Evangeline wrinkled her nose. "It's an acquired taste, Kalepi. You either love it or you hate it."

Her eyes could have been deceiving her, but Evangeline swore that Kalepi looked relieved at not having to impress her with any rum consumption. She watched him as he tipped his head back and took a swig of the lukewarm water, and forgot to look away when he held it back out to her.

"What?" He was immediately on guard, and it was Evangeline's turn to duck her head and look away.

"Nothing. It's just… You're a good kid." The words fell out without her permission, but she wasn't surprised to find that she meant them. He didn't deserve anything that he had gotten, but in a terrible, guilty way she was glad for it. Even if he beat her in checkers every time, and barely spoke to her- let alone _looked _at her- she was glad to have him around.

Suspicion lingered in his features for a moment and then, to Evangeline's great surprised, vanished. As if he had finally, finally lowered his guard. She smiled tightly, encouragingly, wondering if she was overdoing it-

Next thing she knew, she was lying flat on her face on the hard-packed dirt with something very heavy on her back. Instinctively, she struggled, but the weight on her back was not to be dislodged. Trying desperately to flick her troublesome hair out of her face, she tried to find the others, to make sure Kalepi was safe- hoping against all hope that the ambusher wasn't Kidd- but fell still the moment she felt the sharp blade of a weapon pressed into the back of her neck.

With strong, rough hands, she was hauled to her feet. Flicking her hair out of her face, she observed without much surprise that the rest of the crew had been captured and bound. The attackers weren't the notorious pirate crew she had been expecting, which was a plus; on the not-so-bright side was the fact that they were a group of unknown and apparently unfriendly natives. Images of grisly human sacrifice and cannibalism appeared, unbidden, in Evangeline's mind.

There was a minor skirmish in the corner of her eye. Looking around, she saw that Kalepi, small and nimble youngster that he was, had somehow escaped the attackers and was currently attempting some sort of evasive maneouvre around a small group of them, trying in vain to corner him. Evangeline jerked, hard, against her attackers hands, and was jerked back with an aggressive grunt and a sharp prod of what she guessed to be a spear. Moments later, thick, coarse ropes- probably vines- were clapped around her wrists and tugged tighter.

Her mind raced and desperation threatened to choke her. Kalepi needed help- they were trapped and bound- there was no chance of outside help- and she _still _didn't have a weapon on hand to defend herself with.

In a last ditch effort, she opened her mouth to scream. Possibly the weakest diversion in the book, but a diversion none the less. Maybe Kalepi could get away, and then- then what? Come back and free them? There was nothing to stop him from leaving them to rot- apart from the fact that a ship cannot be captained by a lone twelve year old slave boy.

This was the general positive mindset running through Evangeline's head when she took in a deep breath, and after all the trouble she'd gone through to think of such a fool-proof plan she was extremely peeved when her scream was interrupted by another. As could be expected, all activity stopped and heads turned as a rather large woman covered in camouflage paint tore through the clearing, barreling through her fellows to get to-

_Kalepi?_

Jack- standing with his hands bound behind his back, much like Evangeline- caught her eye as the woman threw her arms around Kalepi, but all she could do was shrug and watch on with as much astonishment as everyone else as the woman sobbed and held him tight. Judging from the look on his face, Kalepi himself had no idea what was going on either. At least, not until the woman let out a long, keening wail, through which only one word was discernible. Evangeline's jaw dropped and Kalepi went as white as a sheet. The woman noticed neither, and said it again and again until she could be sure that everyone present had heard her.

"_Kalepi!_"


End file.
